Conventionally, a tire curing apparatus for curing an uncured tire (green tire) has side molds for enclosing both side regions of the uncured tire and a plurality of crown molds for enclosing the crown region of the uncured tire. The tire curing apparatus accelerates the curing (vulcanization) of the uncured tire by transferring heat supplied from the outside to the tire through these molds.
The amount of heat imparted to the uncured tire from these molds is dependent on the heat transfer rate of the metal, which constitutes the molds. Thus, the amount of heat imparted to the uncured tire is nearly the same regardless of the regions of the tire.
FIG. 11A is a graph showing the degree of curing in the center area and the shoulder areas of the crown region of the tire cured with the mold giving a uniform amount of heat regardless of regions of the uncured tire. As shown in the graph, mainly due to the difference in gauge thickness, the degree of curing in the center area with a thinner gauge thickness rises more quickly than that in the shoulder areas with a thicker gauge thickness. At the point when the degree of curing in the shoulder areas with a thicker gauge thickness reaches a proper level, the degree of curing in the center area tends to exceed the proper level and thus cause an overcuring there. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve an optimum degree of curing in both the center area and the shoulder areas at the same time.